"Grey School (No. 1356) A.D. 1905 Sec. 16 Tow. 42 Rg. 12" - so reads the plaque on the front of the building in the Heritage Village at the North Battleford Western Development Museum. This is the Grey School, from the area just north of Maymont.
July 26, 1905 the trustees of the Grey School district No.1356 met at Maymont to organize the school board. Once they had selected a chairman and secretary treasurer they passed bylaw 1 authorizing the district to borrow $1,000 through the sale of debentures. Some of this money went to build the school.
A tender was issued for a school building nine metres by six metres (30 feet by 20 feet) on a stone foundation. The contract was awarded for $170 to a Mr. Chambers.
The trustees met to hire a teacher Oct. 27, 1905. Miss Annie A. Arkley was hired at a salary of $450 for the year.
The school opened with 21 students Nov. 6, 1905. Work (shingling and siding) was still being done on the school, so for the first few weeks the students had difficulty hearing the teacher over the noise of the construction.
As well as being a school, the building also served other purposes. It was a polling station for elections and the entertainment centre for what became known as the Grey School district. Every year a picnic was held to celebrate the end of the school year.
The school year was not without interruptions. In March, 1916 the school was closed because of snow and wind. In April and May 1916 the school was closed for two weeks because of a measles epidemic. In 1918 the school was closed for six weeks in October and November because of the Spanish flu epidemic which killed about 5,000 people in Saskatchewan in 1918-1919.
The highest enrolment at the school was 32 students in 1920; the smallest enrolment was seven in 1957. The school closed in 1957, was donated to the WDM in 1961 and moved to its current site on the North Battleford grounds in 1965.
The school underwent a few changes over time. In 1951 an addition of three by six metres (10 by 20 feet) was added which included a cloakroom, storage cupboards and toilets. In 1954 electric power was installed.
The school had its own cheer. It was:
Ching a lacka ching
Ching a lacka chow
Ching a lacka ching ching
Chow! Chow! Chow!
Razzle, dazzle, hobble, gobble
Ziss, boom, bah
Grey School, Grey School!
Rah! Rah! Rah!
Maintenance of a school that is over 100 years old is never-ending but the museum continues to do the work. Recently the steps to the school were repaired. Other work includes repainting the building, inside and out. The window sills are sagging and rotting so they need to be replaced. The roof requires new shingles and may need structural repair.
Why maintain the Grey School? Because it is the real thing and the real thing takes you back to the time and place it was used and the people who used it. The Grey School is your link to the past, to how children in rural Saskatchewan were educated for over 50 years. That's part of our past; that's worth saving.
